Death of Marat (the recipe)

Pete’s comment on the Aria of Omens post made me do something I should have done ages ago: Google around to see if someone had come up with a Death of Marat recipe.

You recall the Death of Marat from McKinley’s SUNSHINE, yes?

A Gothic sensibility in the bakery is not necessarily a good thing. I’d made this light fluffy looking number in a white oval dish with white high sides and presented the first one with a flourish to a group of regulars who had volunteered to be experimented on. Aimil was the one with the knife, and she stuck it in and the raspberry-and-black-currant filling had exploded down the side and over the edge of the dish onto the counter. It was, I admit, a trifle dramatic. “Gods, Sunshine, what is this, the Death of Marat?” she said. Aimil reads too much. Everybody at Charlie’s that night wanted a taste, and the Death of Marat, the first of Sunshine’s soon-to-be-notorious, implausibly-named epic creations, was born, although I think most of our clientele thought Marat was some kind of master vampire.

Now, it turns out that a) Robin McKinley gets asked for this recipe ALL THE TIME, but b) she has never provided one. But! Evidently as part of a creative writing assignment, or something, this clever person worked out several of Sunshine’s recipes and wrote them down as though Sunshine herself had written them out for Paulie. What a fantastic idea! And the recipe look like a great starting place for experimenting to make your own Death of Marat dessert, too, not to mention Bitter Chocolate Death and others.

So, check that out if you bake.

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4 thoughts on “Death of Marat (the recipe)”

  1. Thanks much! I don’t know why I didn’t think to look for myself. Though I fear Death of Marat remains beyond my touch: a soufle that works one time in three just has ‘hot mess’ written all over it.

  2. Speaking of souffle, I highly recommend this recipe from ChefSteps: http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/molten-chocolate-souffle

    I’ve made it 3 or 4 times and it’s always turned out beautifully. That said, thank you for the inspiration! I am sooo going to try adapting it into The Death of Marat! Although, do you imagine the Death of Marat to be chocolate or vanilla? I always imagined it to be vanilla… in which case, I may try ChefSteps’ Black Pepper Souffle recipe (minus the black pepper, of course).

  3. Rachel Neumeier

    Mona, from Sunshine’s description, I think vanilla. Thanks for you link , and if any of us get a good recipe that works, let’s share, right?

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